Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound

"Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound" (2019 release; 94 min.) is a documentary about the importance of sound in movies. As the movie opens, we get a quick introduction and we then dive straight into some notorious sound designed movies such as the original Star Wars and Saving Private Ryan.

Couple of comments: the is the directing debut of Midge Costin, himself a veteran and well-accomplished sound editor and designer. While we get a chronological recap of the advance of sound in movie history (going from silent movies to "talkies", etc.), the documentary really focuses on three big names in the movie sound universe: Walter Murch (Francis Ford Coppola's sound guy), Ben Burtt (George Lucas' sound guy), and Gary Rydstrom (Steven Spielberg's sound guy). Of course a LOT of other people pipe in as well. For us movie lovers, the main fun and enjoyment is to see how sound is not just merely recording what happens on a movie set, but that in fact sound is built up from the ground in its many different aspects (voice, sound effects, music), and that there is indeed a "sound script" just like you have a "movie script". The documentary is chock full of movie clips, one more enjoyable than the other, but with the extensive looks at how Star Wars and Apocalypse Now were sound designed stealing the limelight (for me anyway).

"Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound" showed up last week out of the blue for what turned out to be a one week run at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Wednesday evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (6 people in total), but enjoyed immensely but the small crowd. If you are a movie lover in any way, shape of form, I would readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you happen to get the chance), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Making Waves is both an informative, friendly introduction to the world of film sound and a passionate advocation of the art. There are in-depth interviews with some of the biggest names in Hollywood sound design - Ben Burtt, Skip Livesay, Randy Thom, Gary Rydstrom and the industry's superstar, the always-entertaining Walter Murch - and in directing - George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, David Lynch, as well as a great many others.

There's an entertaining history of film sound and a breakdown of all the elements that go into the finished whole. In a concise 90 minutes it manages to include most of the major technological innovations and pioneering films and figures. It also manages to give a strong voice to the many women who have worked at the highest level on blockbuster films (e.g. Cecilia Hall on Top Gun, Anna Belhmer on Braveheart).

On the downside, it is very Hollywood-centric (or perhaps California-centric - at one point George Lucas says "so we relocated to San Francisco" like it was some giant leap for filmmaker kind). But to be fair, the filmmakers did admit in the post-screening Q&A that they wanted it to be much more of an international story but they already had over 200 hours of transcripts just from the US and didn't have the funds to travel for interviews.

That aside, it would be hard to ask for a better film about this fascinating but obscure subject.

Whoever is looking into the technicality of sound design... won't find much here.

So what's is all about? It's more about the turning points in the history of moving pictures that defines sound (in movies) how we know it today.

Of course the documentary revolves around what happened in the States and especially in Hollywood.

So we follow the sound as it comes to the world (in theaters that is) and it develops through tribulations (executives who do not understand the value of it and are concerned about how long it's gonna take) and moments of great triumph, when those pioneers who put in a lot of efforts ad overtime got recognized in a way or another (box office, awards, being in this documentary).

Great editing, the whole 90 min flow brilliantly, funny and serious at the same time.

Kudos for recognizing the absolute necessity of team work in the movie production.

The graphic elements that link the sound design components to an orchestra ensemble is a very smart way of presenting the various component to us, the audience. Audience that most likely is barely aware of the importance of sound in a movie and might know a bunch of directors and that's it. Well I'm pretty sure that this doc accomplished its mission, helping people to develop a better understanding of sound without boring them.

I love music and I love music in movies, but besides music there are lots of people working on a movie that do nothing else but get the sound right of people talking, wind rushing throuhg the trees, robots squeeking and water streaming.

Amazing to see how BIG these sound studios are in which all these sound artist create the perfect sound that accompanies the images. Sound is emotion and I really value good sound in a movie.

This documentary features some of the biggest classics in American cinema, like "The Godfather", "Apocalypse Now", "Star Wars", but also some movies that might not seem so classic but still truly are because of the use of new techniques in sound editing, like "Toy Story", which was the first movie which was totally digitally edited.

Even Barbara Streisand of all people has played an important part in movie sound history because one of her seventies movies was the first to be recorded IN STEREO!

Lots and lots of interviews with sound editors, who show HOW they created sounds for the biggest movie classics in history. What a joy to watch! Recommended for the fans of the technical parts of a movie, but also for the casual viewer because it is a revelation to learn how they create these magical sounds in these classic movies that have mesmirized me to this very day!

An in-depth exploration of the evolution of sound in cinema over the years, Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound offers an informative & interesting insight into the creative process of a filmmaking component that plays as integral & essential a role in storytelling as any and it also covers the various breakthroughs & advancements that made it an inseparable part of cinema.

Directed by Midge Costin, the documentary acquaints the viewers with the visceral & emotional power of sound in a film and how the aural elements enrich the imagery & elevate the cinematic experience by influencing our reaction & response almost subconsciously. It features interviews from legendary sound designers & filmmakers and also incorporates clips from films that raised the bar.

The film also provides an overview of the origins of sound in cinema, technological limitations in those early years, ups n downs throughout the decades, groundbreaking feats during the 1970s, and also details the different aspects of sound design (voices, SFX, ADR, editing, mixing, score) and how these separate pieces together work in tandem to deliver the aural experience that works best with the visuals.

Overall, Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound is an illuminating, entertaining & enthralling documentary that illustrates the collaborative effort that goes into making a motion picture and showcases how sound makes as important a contribution as camera in the filmmaking medium. After all, we experience films as much with our ears as we do with our eyes. An absolute delight & a definite must-see for every film lover.